We flagged this pattern in our original vegan sweets guide: dietary claims on sweet packaging don't always match the ingredients underneath. Twin Snakes is a clear, checkable example of exactly that gap.
What's actually in them
Our Twin Snakes are two-tone gummy snakes, paired in flavour combinations like cherry and orange, apple and lemon, and blueberry and blackcurrant. Like most gummy sweets of this shape and texture, they're built on a standard gelatine-set base — gelatine is what gives the format its structure and chew.
Why "vegetarian" and "contains gelatine" can't both be true
Gelatine is an animal-derived protein, produced from collagen in animal skin, bone or connective tissue. There's no version of gelatine that qualifies as vegetarian — it's excluded from the diet by definition, the same way meat is. So if a product's ingredient panel lists gelatine, any vegetarian claim made about that product elsewhere is simply wrong, not a matter of interpretation.
Why this happens
This isn't usually a deliberate attempt to mislead — it's more often a mismatch between marketing copy, which gets written and approved separately, and the ingredient panel, which reflects the actual recipe. Packaging refreshes, regional variants and translated labels all create opportunities for the two to drift out of sync. The result is the same either way for a shopper relying on the claim: it's wrong, and worth catching before it matters.
The practical habit worth building
Treat any dietary claim on the front of a pack as a starting point, not a guarantee — the ingredients list is the only part of the label that has to be accurate. This is exactly the habit our vegetarian sweets shopping guide and gluten-free sweets guide both build around: check the list, not the label copy.
Frequently asked questions
Are Twin Snakes vegetarian?
Not if gelatine appears in the ingredients — which it does for this format of sweet — regardless of any marketing claim made elsewhere.
Why would a gelatine sweet be marketed as vegetarian?
Usually a mismatch between marketing copy and the ingredient panel, rather than a deliberate claim.
How do I check for myself?
Read the ingredients list directly — if gelatine is listed, treat the product as non-vegetarian no matter what else is printed on the pack.